OTTAWA: The Toronto International Film Festival said Thursday it was pausing all upcoming screenings of controversial documentary “Russians at War” after receiving “significant threats.”
“We have been made aware of significant threats to festival operations and public safety,” festival organizers said in a statement, pointing to reports they received “indicating potential activity in the coming days that pose significant risk.”
“This is an unprecedented move for TIFF,” read the statement.
“Given the severity of these concerns, we cannot proceed as planned.”
Anastasia Trofimova first presented “Russians at War” at the Venice Film Festival.
In the film, she embedded with a Russian battalion as it advanced across eastern Ukraine after Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.
It was to have its North American premiere in Toronto on Friday, followed by additional screenings on Saturday and Sunday.
Both in Venice and Toronto it has sparked outrage in Ukrainian cultural and political circles against what many consider a pro-Kremlin film that seeks to whitewash and justify Moscow’s assault on its neighbor.
Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said he felt the festival should have dropped the film.
“The threat is Russian propaganda,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that the film should be “banned.”
Canada’s deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, criticized the planned screening in Toronto.
“There can be no moral equivalency in our understanding of this conflict,” she said.
Canadian public broadcaster TVO, which had helped fund the documentary, pulled its support for the film and said it would not be airing it.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s state film agency appealed to TIFF to drop the film, which it said was “a dangerous tool for public opinion manipulation.”
Trofimova has rejected the criticisms, telling AFP the Canada-France production was “an anti-war film” that showed “ordinary guys” who were fighting for Russia.
The soldiers depicted appear to have little idea of why they have been sent to the front, and are shown struggling to make Soviet-era weapons serviceable.
Others chain-smoke cigarettes and down shots of alcohol amid the deaths and wounds of their comrades.
Producer Sean Farnel said on X that the decision to cancel the screenings was “heartbreaking.”
He blamed officials’ public criticisms for having “incited the violent hate that has led to TIFF’s painful decision to pause its presentation of ‘Russians at War.’“
Toronto festival drops Russian war film screenings over threats
https://arab.news/nqezr
Toronto festival drops Russian war film screenings over threats
- Desicion was taken after receiving ‘significant threats to festival operations and public safety’
- Film features a Russian battalion as it advanced across eastern Ukraine in February 2022
Foreign press group welcomes Israel court deadline on Gaza access
- Supreme Court set deadline for responding to petition filed by the Foreign Press Association to Jan. 4
- Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the Strip
JERUSALEM: The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem on Sunday welcomed the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to set January 4 as the deadline for Israel to respond to its petition seeking media access to Gaza.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel, Israeli authorities have prevented foreign journalists from independently entering the devastated territory.
Israel has instead allowed, on a case-by-case basis, a handful of reporters to accompany its troops into the blockaded Palestinian territory.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, filed a petition to the supreme court last year, seeking immediate access for international journalists to the Gaza Strip.
On October 23, the court held a first hearing on the case, and decided to give Israeli authorities one month to develop a plan for granting access.
Since then the court has given several extensions to the Israeli authorities to come up with their plan, but on Saturday it set January 4 as a final deadline.
“If the respondents (Israeli authorities) do not inform us of their position by that date, a decision on the request for a conditional order will be made on the basis of the material in the case file,” the court said.
The FPA welcomed the court’s latest directive.
“After two years of the state’s delay tactics, we are pleased that the court’s patience has finally run out,” the association said in a statement.
“We renew our call for the state of Israel to immediately grant journalists free and unfettered access to the Gaza Strip.
“And should the government continue to obstruct press freedoms, we hope that the supreme court will recognize and uphold those freedoms,” it added.
An AFP journalist sits on the board of the FPA.
